


She's Beauty, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

by Annide



Series: Febuwhump [4]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Hurt/Comfort, Meet-Ugly, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: When out dancing, Grace makes a bad move and accidentally hits a man.
Relationships: Grace Ryder/Judd Ryder (9-1-1 Lone Star)
Series: Febuwhump [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116785
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	She's Beauty, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Febuwhump day 14: "i didn't mean it"
> 
> Title from that popular saying/quote

It was a night out like any other. Grace was having fun with her friends, dancing and drinking. She wasn’t drunk, just slightly buzzed, but it seemed enough to impair her dancing abilities. It was a busy night at the bar and the dance floor was really crowded. Grace may have gotten a little bit too much into the moves, just a little overexcited. And she accidentally hit someone’s face.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. And you’re bleeding, I feel really bad.” She said.

“It’s alright, I’ve had worse.”

The man said as he walked away from the dance floor and grabbed napkins to absorb the blood spilling out of his nose. His shirt was already stained and Grace felt incredibly bad about that.

“Please, let me take a look. It’s the least I can do.”

He took the napkins off his face long enough for her to examine the damage she’d done. She tentatively put her finger on the crooked nose and removed it quickly when he winced. It was definitely broken.

“I think it’s broken, I’m sorry. Really, I didn’t mean it. I got a little too into the dance, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I told you, it’s fine. And you looked great out there. Amazing, really.”

“You thought so?”

She looked down, a small smile on her lips. There was something intriguing about him, about how nice he was, how unbothered he seemed by the fact she had just punched his nose broken.

“I’m Judd.”

He presented his hand, the one that wasn’t busy stopping the blood spilling down his face.

“Grace.”

She shook his hand and grabbed a few more napkins to switch with his now completely red ones.

“Neither of us are in any state to drive to the hospital. Did you come here with anyone? Or should I call 911?”

“They’re all drunk, but it’s okay, I know someone we can call. Here, my phone’s in my shirt’s pocket, could you grab it? I got some blood on my hands. Dial Michelle.”

Grace dialled the contact he asked for and put the phone on speaker.

“Oh no, what happened now?” An exasperated voice asked from the other end of the line, as someone else laughed in the background.

“Maybe if you came out with us every once in a while you could make sure nothing happens. Iris could come with.”

“Or maybe a grown man like you should be able to make it more than a week without getting some kind of injury. What did you do this time?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Don’t take that offended tone with me, Ryder. Wasn’t it just three days ago I treated a bad cut off your leg because you could ‘definitely make it over that fence’? Or last week when Tommy had to transport you to the hospital for smoke inhalation because you took off your oxygen mask?”

“I told you, that woman needed the oxygen more than me. You’re seriously gonna keep giving me a bad time for helping an old lady?”

“You’re a firefighter?” Grace asked.

“Who’s that?” Michelle said. “Her voice sounds familiar.”

“Oh good, I’m not imagining it.” Judd sighed. “She’s Grace, she punched me in the face.”

“Wow, good on you, Grace. What did he do?”

Judd let out an offended cry at the assumption, but, before he could retort, Grace decided she needed to try bringing the conversation back on track.

“I’ve been working at the 911 dispatch for a few weeks, that’s why you may have heard my voice. And the punching was an accident, I went a little too hard into the line dance. I already apologised, but it looks like his nose might be broken.”

“Nice to have you on board, Grace. Iris and I are on our way. In the meantime, Judd lean forward, and Grace get some ice from the bar. I’ll be here soon, hopefully we won’t need to go to the ER. I think they’ve started keeping a tally sheet of the 126’s injuries.”

Michelle hung up and Grace did as she’d been told. She came back to Judd, who was sitting with his head leaned forward and handed him the ice that he immediately put against his nose.

“So... Sounds like you’re pretty reckless.”

“Only when it’s necessary to save a life.”

“Ha! Keep telling yourself that.” Another man said, as he and others came closer.

“Grace, this is my friend Billy, we work together. And there’s Tim, one of the paramedics who works with Michelle, and that’s Chuck...”

Judd kept pointing to more people, but Grace lost track. She got distracted by the look in his face, by the way he talked about them so fondly, like family. These were his brothers and he cared about them. And they’d come closer, leaving the dance floor, forgetting their drinks, because they cared about him just as much. It was a great thing to witness.

“She’s beauty, she’s Grace, she’ll punch you in the face. Taking down Judd like that, Grace, you’ve got quite the strong punch there. Call me impressed.” Chuck said. “Too bad Tim here’s too drunk to help.”

“You’re as drunk as I am!” Tim turned to Judd. “Who did you call?”

“Michelle. Tommy’s on a date and she’d kill me for interrupting it.”

There was warmth in Judd that made Grace feel welcomed and comfortable within the group, as though she were already a part of it. She felt good here, waiting for help to come. Not long after Michelle had gotten there and made sure Judd was alright, Grace’s friends waved at her. It was time to go. She reiterated her apology to Judd and told everyone it was nice to meet them. It hadn’t been a bad night overall.

The following week, Grace decided to go back to that same bar, the same day of the week, hoping she’d run into Judd again. After all, he’d made it sound like it was a regular hangout for him and his team. She stepped foot inside, looking around for him. She spotted Michelle with Tim, Iris and a woman that must’ve been Tommy, and she was about to go to them when Judd appeared before her.

“Grace, nice to see you again.” He said.

“Judd, hi.”

“Do you wanna dance? I figure there’s less of a chance of you hitting me that way.” He joked, a charming smile on his face. “Also, you’re gorgeous and funny and I couldn’t stop thinking about you all week. Look, I even burned my hand because I was so busy thinking about you I forgot oven mitts. Michelle and Billy wouldn’t stop laughing, Tim at least took care of it.”

“You should really try being more careful. How’s your nose?” She said as she followed him to the dance floor.

“It’s fine, healing well. I was hoping I’d get to hear your beautiful voice on a call this week.”

“And I was hoping to get to dispatch a call to the 126, maybe hear yours. One day.”

“Yes, one day.”

It became some kind of a tradition for them to come to this bar and dance every week. At first, that’s all it was, but after a month, Judd asked how she’d feel about going on a proper date. She was delighted. Their relationship only grew from there, but they never stopped going dancing. It was their thing and they always enjoyed it.


End file.
